The book I use the most

The book that most influenced the way I organize my time (and, to be honest, all the rest of my life) doesn't actually exist. It was a series of cassette tapes with the long and forget-able title,

Time Quest: Increasing Productivity Through Value-based Time Management, - How to Use the Franklin Day Planner System (4 Audio Cassette Tape Set in Case) by Franklin Quest Co. 

My sister bought me a Franklin planner back in 1992, just as I was starting my job.  The planner came with these cassette tapes on how to set up the pages in the book.  "Who needs to learn how to make a calendar and a bunch of to-do lists?" was my first reaction.  But about halfway through the tapes, I became a convert.  Now I carry my planner with me almost everywhere I go.  The exceptions are easy to list:  running, church, and yard sales.  Otherwise, I'm never more than one room away from it.  My planner is definitely the book I use the most.  

Franklin Quest bought out the Steven Covey empire; now the company is Franklin-Covey.  They've published a bunch of books, including about a gazillion versions of "Highly Effective Habits".  That people like these Highly Effective books so much have made them into the Highly Lucrative Publications section of the company.  But for me, I honestly miss Hyrum Smith's initial approach:  he focused on tiny details of time management, and he put those in the context of the most important parts of a person's life.  I don't know why he never published that.

I can't distill four hours into one blog post; I'm sure I'll come back to writing about time management again.  But here are four big lessons that I learned, boiled down so greatly they're probably beyond usefulness.

• Know what your deepest values are.  Then, when you look at a long list of to-do items, choose to do the things that matter most first, even if they're not the easiest to do.
• There is a difference between "vital" and "urgent".  "Vital" is getting exercise, or hugging your children, or calling a friend who's down.  "Urgent" is the memo due soon and the ringing telephone.  Whenever possible, ditch the non-vital, urgent things in favor of doing the vital non-urgent things.
• Keep all your information in one place.  My planner has my address book, a list of my appliances' serial and model numbers, my utility and financial account numbers, my calendar, my to-do lists, my brainstorm space, my pencils and pens, and more.  I don't keep two calendars.  This is an incredibly useful component of organizing time and effort.
• It's a good idea to have "to-do" items for specific dates in the future.  (Some people call these "tickler items", because they "tickle" your memory).  When I'm planning an on-going project, I parcel out what I'm doing and write those tasks on days well into the days or even months ahead.  For example, I know that on Thursday a week from now when we're back from some travels and the hectic start of school is behind us, I'll call a dairy about buying bulk butter.  Between now and then, I don't have to worry about it.

For many years, I bought new pages from the company each year at the hefty price of about $60.  That's expensive for a calendar, but for me the price was more than worth it.  This past year, I figured out how to design my own planner pages on the computer, and I can print out a year's pages for about $14.


UPDATE as of December 2019:

This post, now 8 or so years later, is still one of the posts I get the most comments and requests about.  If you'd like to get access to those MP3 files (as a bunch of people over the years have requested), please leave a comment in the space below and include an email address where I can reach you. 

The comments for this blog are now set to "moderated only", meaning before the comment goes live, it'll come to my email.   I'll get it, send you a link to the MP3 files, and then delete your comment so that no one else gets to see your email address.  (Well, unless you want me to publish your comment; I could do that if you want).